Takeout-Style Sesame Noodles
from http://cooking.nytimes.com/

Cold sesame noodles are a mainstay of Chinese takeout menus in New York City. They have been so since at least the 1970s, when Chinese chefs trained in the banquet arts introduced the dish to diners at new-style Sichuan restaurants like Hwa Yuan on East Broadway, the Empire Szechuan chain uptown and Tang Tang’s near Gramercy Park.

Cold and fiery, meant to combat the lazy, brutal humidity of a Chinese summer, the noodles were soft and luxurious, bathed in an emulsified mixture of sesame paste and peanut butter, rendered vivid and fiery by chile oil, and sweetened by sugar, with a rice vinegar tang.

I set out to discover how to make cold sesame noodles correctly.

Ed Schoenfeld, a historian of Chinese food in New York and once the maître d’hôtel for David Keh’s Uncle Tai’s on the Upper East Side, was of great help, digging up his memories of the great noodleman Shorty Tang, who ran the kitchen at Hwa Yuan. (Use commercial peanut butter, Mr. Schoenfeld advised.) So, later, was the Tang family — Shorty Tang’s son, Jerry, and Gilley, his grandson, who would go on to sell a version of the dish at the Smorgasburg market in Brooklyn.

“The art is in the balance,” Mr. Schoenfeld said at the time, “between the salt and sweet, the sweet and the fire, and the fire and the acidity.”

Noodles:
1 pound Chinese egg noodles (1/8-inch-thick), frozen or (preferably) fresh, available in Asian markets
splash of sesame oil

Sauce:
2 tablespoons sesame oil
3 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons Chinese rice vinegar
2 tablespoons Chinese sesame paste (or 2 tablespoons tahini with an extra teaspoon of sesame oil)
1 tablespoon smooth peanut butter
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon finely grated ginger
2 teaspoons minced garlic
2 teaspoons chili-garlic paste, or to taste

Garnish:
Half a cucumber, peeled, seeded, and cut into 1/8-inch by 1/8-inch by 2-inch sticks
1/4 cup chopped roasted peanuts

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add noodles and cook until barely tender, about 5 minutes; they should retain a hint of chewiness. Drain, rinse with cold water, drain again and toss with a splash of sesame oil.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the 2 tablespoons sesame oil, the soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame paste, peanut butter, sugar, ginger, garlic and chili-garlic paste.
Pour the sauce over the noodles and toss. Transfer to a serving bowl, and garnish with cucumber and peanuts.

Tip: The Chinese sesame paste called for here is made of toasted sesame seeds; it is not the same as tahini, the Middle Eastern paste made of plain, untoasted sesame. But you could use tahini in a pinch. You need only add a little toasted sesame oil to compensate for flavor, and perhaps some peanut butter to keep the sauce emulsified.

Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)
628 calories; 20 grams fat; 3 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 8 grams monounsaturated fat; 7 grams polyunsaturated fat; 90 grams carbohydrates; 5 grams dietary fiber; 6 grams sugars; 21 grams protein; 95 milligrams cholesterol; 797 milligrams sodium